Liam Martin – Oban

May 2017

An Oban man caught with hundreds of thousands of indecent images of children was jailed for 14 months yesterday, to “mark the revulsion of society”.

When police raided Lliam Martin’s home they found more than 750,000 files.

Officers worked for eight months sorting and categorising the sickening images, but they eventually had to give up on 600,000 of them because they reached the legal timebar for dealing with the case.

Martin, 34, of Dungallan Terrace, was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

Sentencing him at Oban Sheriff Court, Sheriff Ruth Anderson QC told Martin: “In my view there is only one disposal which is appropriate here to mark what I think can properly be called the revulsion of society in respect of what you have been doing.

“I have viewed some of these images as I always do when I sentence someone in your position, so that I can say I have looked at what you have been looking at.”

He had previously pleaded guilty to possessing indecent photographs of children at his home between November 2008 and June last year.

His house was raided on June 21 after police received “sensitive intelligence”.

Fiscal Eoin McGinty previously told the court that in total there were 168,800 still images and 40 moving images.

These were discovered on SD cards, a MacBook laptop and a computer unit.

Two people were working full-time between June and March on this single case and police did not have the time or resources to categorise the remaining 597,000 images.

The court previously heard that the images ranged from category A, the most severe level, to category C, the least severe.

Solicitor Simon Collins said that the majority of the images, 148,000, were category C, 14,200 category B and 11,400 category A.

April 2017

Police found so many child abuse images at Highland man’s home they ran out of time to sort it

A Highland man caught with hundreds of thousands of child sexual abuse images had so many illicit pictures police were unable to categorise them all.

After uncovering Lliam Martin’s cache of more than 750,000 files, officers worked for eight months sorting and categorizing the horrifying images, tens of thousands of them at the worst level.

But they had to give up on almost 600,000 of them because they reached the legal timebar for dealing with the case

Last night charities described the crime as “appalling” and “horrific”, while one politician questioned why the case did not go to the High Court.

The 34-year-old appeared at Oban Sheriff Court yesterday and admitted possessing indecent photographs of children at Dungallan Terrace, Oban between November 2008 and June last year.

Fiscal Eoin McGinty said: “Simply because of the sheer number of images, those that were tasked with categorising them had to draw a line given the impending timebar. Two people were working full-time between June and March on this single case.”

He said that in total there were 168,800 still images and 40 moving images. These were discovered on SD cards, a Mac Book laptop and a computer unit.

Mr McGinty added: “There was a substantial tranche that was left. There were a further 597,000 images that have not been looked at and categorised. They are suspected indecent images of children.”

Martin’s home was raided on June 21 after police received “sensitive intelligence”.

Mr McGinty said: “Police attended the accused’s home address at 8.40am. He lived with his parents.

“Police spoke to the accused who at that stage was in his bed. He handed the police five SD storage cards.”

The court heard that Martin told police one of the cards contained “porn of all ages”.

Mr McGinty said Martin had created files with names such as “10 year old girls in changing room,” “Angels,” and “Adult beach girls topless”.

Sheriff Ruth Anderson asked: “Are we talking about adults?”

He replied: “No we are talking about children. I unfortunately had a look, some of them are babies. Some are older.”

The sheriff deferred sentence until May 23 for a background report to be prepared.

She told Martin: “While all sentencing options are open, you can expect a custodial sentence.”